Games Beaten 2015

by **BoneSnapDeez** Tue Apr 28, 2015 2:20 pm

First 50:

51. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
52. Tic-Tac-Toe / Shooting Gallery / Doodle / Quadra-Doodle (Channel F)
53. Robot War / Torpedo Alley (Channel F)
54. Pinball Challenge (Channel F)
55. Elevator Action (Xbox - Taito Legends)
56. Elevator Action II (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
57. Altered Beast (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
58. Congo Bongo (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
59. International Soccer (Commodore 64)
60. Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue! (Odyssey²)

The Year Challenge continues.

1979...

Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue!

Finding a suitable game from this year was a bit tricky. My top choices - Armor Battle (Intellivision) and Hockey! / Soccer! (also for the Odyssey²) both turned out to be two-players only. Since I had dragged the O² out of storage and had it hooked up, I decided to seek out another action-packed 1979 title for that particular console. I settled on Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue!, which, as you may have guessed, is comprised of two "sub-games." A hi-res scan of the box art found on GameFAQs informs me that Out of this World! supports "One or two players!" and that Helicopter Rescue is suitable for "One or more players." Good to go!

Out of this World! is, in fact, not the seminal French Amiga adventure. This one has an exclamation point! What we have here is an incredibly simplified copy of Atari's Lunar Lander. There's no steering or jagged moon terrain here, just a flat lunar surface and a ship that only travels vertically up and down. Thus only the fire button (for thrusting) is used; there is no joystick movement needed. You ship begins in outer space and begins to plummet to the lunar surface. A few careful presses of the fire button will slow it to a gentle landing. Then it's time to launch upward and connect with the mothership. This is where fuel comes into play; there's a limited supply and you don't want to waste too much on the initial landing. Oh, and the game box lied. This a two player game. There's no AI opponent, nor is there an option to choose no opponent whatsoever. The game is won if you connect to the mothership ten times before the other player - who, in my case, was no one... So I decided to set an arbitrary criteria for beating this - ten trips to the mothership with no crashes. Next game!

Helicopter Rescue! is like a half-assed Choplifter! (dear God make the exclamation points stop). There's no action here. No tension, no fear of losing, no antagonists, nothing. This is the game: you're a helicopter, you "rescue" a guy standing on a building by dropping a basket to his aid, you return him to the ground. That's it. This goes on for two minutes. But with "One or more players" there's some potential for good competition, right? No, because the box lied again! This is a one player game. The second joystick doesn't do anything. I guess theoretically more than one person could play if each person passed the joystick around after every round. But by that logic any video game could support an infinite number of players. The "high score" (mine was a whopping 6, though I've heard that the pros can reach 7) isn't even saved anyway.

Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue! doesn't seem to have many fans.
The Video Game Critic states:

this cartridge is a turkey all the way

And The Odyssey² Homepage:

Are you ready to play a thrill-packed, exciting, challenging game with fantastic graphics and sound? Well, then, stay away from this cartridge! These have routinely been called the worst Odyssey² games ever.

And while I wasn't thrilled with this cart I can't bring myself to hate it. It still oozes that awkward quirky charm that characterizes so many "bad" second gen titles. It's a humorous kusoge game, and I'd even (somewhat hesitantly) recommend it to those who own an Odyssey² and are looking for a good chuckle.

Onward to the 1980s!

by **prfsnl_gmr** Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:28 pm

BoneSnapDeez wrote:kusoge

That page is awesome. The Typing of the Dead and T&C Surf Designs definitely do not deserve to be listed there, however.

by **BoneSnapDeez** Tue Apr 28, 2015 10:33 pm

First 50:

51. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
52. Tic-Tac-Toe / Shooting Gallery / Doodle / Quadra-Doodle (Channel F)
53. Robot War / Torpedo Alley (Channel F)
54. Pinball Challenge (Channel F)
55. Elevator Action (Xbox - Taito Legends)
56. Elevator Action II (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
57. Altered Beast (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
58. Congo Bongo (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
59. International Soccer (Commodore 64)
60. Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue! (Odyssey²)
61. Alien Invaders - Plus! (Odyssey²)

1980...

Alien Invaders - Plus!

We're in the 80s now!

Space Invaders (1978) was an arcade shooter that revolutionized the gaming landscape. While Atari had exclusive rights to the second gen home versions, other companies developed their own Space Invaders "equivalents." The Apple II had Apple Invaders, the Bally Astrocade had Astro Battle, Commodore computers had Avenger, Intellivision had Space Armada, and Magnavox launched Alien Invaders - Plus! for the Odyssey² in 1980.

First let me state the elements found in AIP that were ripped straight from Invaders. This game is a fixed shooter; only left/right movement is allowed and your ship fires upwards. There are "waves" of extraterrestrial enemies swaying from side to side while slowly descending. A large mothership sails around above the waves and three shields are present should you need something to hide behind.

It sounds derivative - and it is - but Alien Invaders - Plus! shakes things up a bit, and ultimately the game almost ends up feeling like a whole new experience. One worth playing, even.

The aliens present themselves in three very distinct rows that move around in a staggered formation. Row one is actually comprised of force fields. These absorb your gunfire so it's necessary to time shots properly to hit row two. Row two consists of cannons that continually fire downwards. And row three is actually the aliens themselves that man the cannons. Eliminate a cannon and the alien behind it becomes a sitting duck.

Unlike the saucer of Space Invaders, the mothership of AIP is an omnipresent entity. It tracks your movements above the screen and continually fires down. If it's destroyed while other aliens are present it reforms after a few seconds. However once all alien waves are eliminated the mothership heads downward for an intense one-on-battle. Defeat the ship to gain access to the next level.

Oh, and the shields? Gunfire doesn't destroy them here. In addition to blocking shots (from both sides) they also serve a completely novel function. If your ship is to be hit by enemy fire the pilot pops out. By ducking under a shield and pressing the fire button a new ship for the player materializes and the shield vanishes. This gives you a few "lives" per level, though the game becomes much more difficult once the shields start vanishing.

There's a score system here too. Complete a level and earn one point. However, if the aliens complete a level (by draining all the player's lives) they gain a point. First to 10 wins. The game surprisingly doesn't loop, thus making its "beaten" status unambiguous. There is no ending to speak of though, gain ten points and the game simply freezes.

I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. How does it stack up to Space Invaders? Well, it's not nearly as good. Controls are a bit stiff and trying to shoot around the force fields can be infuriating at times. But it's an extremely impressive title for 1980 and belongs in any Odyssey² collection.

by **Ack** Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:34 am

1. Renegade Ops (PC)(Multidirectional Shooter)
2. Borderlands 2 (PC)(FPS/RPG)
3. Gunpoint (PC)(Puzzle Platformer)
4. Robotrek (SNES)(RPG)
5. The Tick (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
6. Alien vs Predator (SNES)(Beat 'Em Up)
7. X-Kaliber 2097 (SNES)(Action Platformer)
8. Metal Slug (MVS)(Run and Gun)
9. Shadowrun (SNES)(RPG)
10. Quake II (PC)(FPS)
11. The Twisted Tales of Spike McFang (SNES)(RPG)
12. Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number (PC)(Action)
13. A Story About My Uncle (PC)(Platformer)
14. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II (PC)(FPS)
15. Star Wars Jedi Knight: Mysteries of the Sith (PC)(FPS)
16. Catacomb (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
17. Catacomb Abyss (PC)(FPS)
18. Catacomb Armageddon (PC)(FPS)
19. Catacomb Apocalypse (PC)(FPS)
20. The Catacomb (PC)(Top-Down Shooter)
21. Catacomb 3-D (PC)(FPS)
22. EarthBound (SNES)(RPG)
23. Quake II: Ground Zero (PC)(FPS)
24. Quake II: The Reckoning (PC)(FPS)

The Reckoning is a weird Mission Pack for Quake II. Sure, it keeps the same basic structure of the base game, but it utilizes an entirely different game's philosophy. When I first started playing it, I noticed that it didn't really feel like Quake II, and now that I am through it, I can confidently say that The Reckoning feels more like Doom parading around in Quake II's skin than anything else.

Why do I say that? Well, first there is the color palette. Quake II uses mostly browns and reds in its design, and Ground Zero kept this. The Reckoning throws a lot more green into the mix, in lighting, textures, and in toxic waste. Each new area presents a player with the closeup of a facility, as opposed to the fuzzy map of Quake II/Ground Zero. Enemy ranks are heavily stuffed with guards and enforcers, which I find reminiscent of the zombies and shotgun guys of Doom. There are also monster closets everywhere(including one for the final boss) and an abundance of exploding barrels in certain areas.

But is it good? Well...yes and no. I found it cool to play through, but I also found it a buggy, infuriating mess at times. So I guess I should start at the beginning:

THE BUGS

The version currently on Steam is problematic and is out of date, for both The Reckoning and Ground Zero. Both may have issues starting and Steam Boostrapper immediately crashing(though this can be circumvented by accessing them directly from the Quake II directory as opposed to using Steam). Worse yet, both have the potential for your save games and map data to corrupt. I made it through Ground Zero without this ever happening, thank goodness. The Reckoning, however... I basically restarted at one point because my save files went to shit and I ended up in a situation where I could no longer advance due to the game crashing when it tried to load the next map. Thankfully I manually patched the game and alleviated the issue. It took me a little while to figure this out though, as the Steam forums were largely unhelpful.

THE WEAPONS

There are three new weapons in this one, which I have a love/hate relationship with. The first is the Trap, which is lethal to anything that steps on it, and it pulls in whatever is closest. Unfortunately this means you. It also can pull in something bigger than the space it occupies, which means that enemies will occasionally get trapped up against the wall because they are too big. Luckily they tend to worry more about the trap instead of you, so it becomes like shooting fish in a barrel. The Ion Ripper is the next, and it's nasty: it basically shoots energy-based blades that ricochet off walls and do a great job of cutting the legs out from under things. I didn't use this as much as I should have because it uses the same ammunition as both the Hyperblaster and BFG10k, but you get to see how effective it is through the game because quite a few enemies pack one as well. And then there is the Phalanx Particle Cannon, which is basically a double-barreled shotgun that shoots explosions and pure hate. I love you, Phalanx Particle Cannon. You look like evil and you hit like the fist of an angry god.

THE ENEMIES

This is where things get a bit annoying. The Reckoning throws hordes of Gekk lizard men, Strogg, Beta Class Strogg, and new varieties of guards at you. This latter part especially sucks, because they're small, numerous, and not worth the ammunition I have to expend to kill a lot of them, especially the laser-armed sniping ones. Are you worth a railgun slug? Probably not, but I hate you so much that I want your unborn grandchildren to feel it. You're gonna end up knee deep in the dead for this one, particularly in some of the later levels which contain 90+ enemies at a time. I think that's the most enemies in any Quake II level. But don't worry, even when you get to the final section of the game, and the enemy numbers suddenly drop back down to sub-50, the game still has one final "fuck you" prepared for you:

The Gladiator (Beta Class)

I already hate the Gladiator, because he has a railgun. The Beta Class lost the railgun, but gained a shield, and then decided it was a good idea to strap my beloved Phalanx Particle Cannon to his shoulder and show me just how much damage it can really do. Being hit with a Phalanx Particle Cannon is a lot like having God flick you with his finger as he says, "Nope!" You don't die, you cease to be. And on the Strogg moon base, there are a couple dozen of these assholes. They have over 10 times the health you do, making them comparable to a boss, only again, there's a couple dozen of them. In a row.

The final boss, a rehash of the Makron fight, is easier than these assholes, and the final boss has a BFG10k. He also only has twice the health of the Gladiator Beta Class, and he's slower than they are, so after those...he's pretty much a joke. I wiped the floor with him without bothering to use the Quad Damage and Dual Fire I had banked. I killed him and ran into a different level to escape. Only in that level, I discovered one last Strogg ready and waiting for me, the true final boss of the game.

A fucking Gladiator (Beta Class).

I activated the Quad Damage and unloaded my BFG10k into his face. That was how I beat The Reckoning.

by **MrPopo** Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:48 am

I actually found the Gladiator Betas in the ship to be worse than the moon base due to the confined quarters. But in the moon base I did use a lot of traps on them to avoid dealing with them.

I think the reason I preferred The Reckoning was the new enemies were overall easier to deal with. The Gladiator Beta is mostly a meat sponge (his weapon has a slow travel speed), while the new guards are as easy to kill as the old guards, so it was mostly making sure you take advantage of that so they don't laser you to death (go go machine gun). Whereas the Ground Zero monsters were sadistic in their design.

by **Ack** Wed Apr 29, 2015 11:05 am

I found it to be the opposite for me. The Ground Zero enemies were sadistic and challenging, but a lot of the Beta versions of enemies in The Reckoning felt cheap. They beefed up health and gave them nastier weapons, and then they throw hordes of them at me or let them take potshots. I basically gave up trying to snipe with the shotgun or machine gun and started popping guards with a railgun because I was tired of being continuously lasered the instant they looked at me. The amount of health in the Gladiator Beta Class is ridiculous; I would rather they toss in a handful of other enemies than one bullet sponge who could one shot you if he hit in the right place and you were unarmored.

I do like the level ideas more for The Reckoning; the starport, freighter, and moon base were all excellent levels. And I find I prefer the weapons of The Reckoning more overall(with the exception of Ground Zero's Proximity Launcher), but enemies just felt poorly handled to me.

by **BoneSnapDeez** Wed Apr 29, 2015 10:30 pm

First 50:

51. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (SNES)
52. Tic-Tac-Toe / Shooting Gallery / Doodle / Quadra-Doodle (Channel F)
53. Robot War / Torpedo Alley (Channel F)
54. Pinball Challenge (Channel F)
55. Elevator Action (Xbox - Taito Legends)
56. Elevator Action II (PlayStation 2 - Taito Legends 2)
57. Altered Beast (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
58. Congo Bongo (Xbox 360 - Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection)
59. International Soccer (Commodore 64)
60. Out of this World! / Helicopter Rescue! (Odyssey²)
61. Alien Invaders - Plus! (Odyssey²)
62. Ice Hockey (Atari 2600)

1981...

Ice Hockey

by **prfsnl_gmr** Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:13 am

BoneSnapDeez wrote:Oh, and the FDS/NES game with the same title? Completely different. And worse.

Get. Out. Ice Hockey on the NES is a great game.

by **BoneSnapDeez** Thu Apr 30, 2015 10:19 am

It's not bad. Worse than Atari Ice Hockey tho.

by **Sarge** Thu Apr 30, 2015 12:18 pm

Man, I loved Ice Hockey on NES. Way better than pretty much any of Nintendo's other early sports titles. Still very playable.

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